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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 771 asked in the Legislative Council on 31 October 2013 by Hon Lynn Maclaren

Parliament: 39 Session: 1

LIVE EXPORT — ANIMAL MISTREATMENT

771. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:

(1) Has the minister seen the graphic video images from Jordan shown on Lateline last night of Australian sheep killed while still conscious and left to bleed on the street?

(2) Is this practice permissible in Western Australia?

(3) In Western Australian abattoirs are sheep required to be stunned before they are slaughtered?

(4) What is the purpose of pre-stunning an animal before slaughter?

Hon KEN BASTON replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question.

(1) No, I have not, but my department advises that the images from Lateline showed unacceptable handling and slaughter of sheep at roadside stalls outside approved supply chains in Jordan. The matter is under investigation by the federal Department of Agriculture.

(2) No.

(3) All cattle and the vast majority of sheep processed in WA are stunned first, including those slaughtered to meet halal conditions. An exception to pre-slaughter stunning is allowed under the ''Australian Standard for the Hygienic Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption''—AS 4696:2007—for a small number of sheep in WA, less than 60 a year on average, which are processed to meet kosher requirements.

(4) The purpose of stunning is to render the animal unconscious before slaughter.